Pileated Woodpecker

In my backyard mountain ash tree on Thanksgiving morning...shot through the dining

room window...comments appreciated, thank you!

Very good composition with a revealing background. Best regards.

Thank you, Sumon!

Beautiful bird in his natural surroundings. Could be a little sharper. Possibly if you raised your iso to 800, giving you a little more speed it would have been sharper, especially since your lens doesn't have VR.

Good morning, Monte! Actually the 80-400mm zoom is a VR lens. And you are correct that I could have pushed up the iso. But, my daughter saw this bird through our dining room windows, I ran to get the camera and switch lenses and shot about 10 shots through the windows as the bird was flying from tree to tree. This was the best one, not the greatest, but this is the first pileated woodpecker I've seen in my yard in 6 years. So, I felt lucky to get this one under less than ideal conditions.

Very good shot of a bird I've always had a very hard time to capture (in pictures that is) :)

Thank you, Diana!

Your so right Richard, I can't count the times I should have adjusted my iso, but especially my compensation. Birds have a way of surprising you when your attention is elsewhere.

Monte, I've also found that as I get to know my D300 better, my finger goes almost automatically to the exposure compensation button when I can sense the need for it.